“Governor Patrick’s plan is right on the money,” Julie Hackett said. “We need more educational outreach on opioids, particularly aimed at young people and families. If the target audience is high school, it’s too late.”

Staff Reporter

TAUNTON — Taunton Schools Superintendent Julie Hackett has a few hopes for Gov. Deval Patrick’s newly released plan to bolster the fight against opiate addiction in the Bay State.

“Governor Patrick’s plan is right on the money,” Hackett said Wednesday. “We need more educational outreach on opioids, particularly aimed at young people and families. If the target audience is high school, it’s too late.”

One of many initiatives Patrick proposed Tuesday calls for “enhancing opioid education.”

According to Patrick’s office, the Department of Public Health “will launch a statewide awareness campaign for youth and parents to promote more openness and public dialogue about issues of addiction and recovery.” Patrick also pledged help from the state in enhancing “education for medical professionals on best practices in identifying and treating individuals with opioid addiction.”

“For education to be effective, it needs to start before bad habits are formed,” Hackett said. “We need to start working with middle school-aged students, and I am hopeful that the governor’s Task Force will specifically target educational outreach in the preteen and early teen years.”

On Tuesday morning, Patrick announced he would meet with all New England governors on June 17 at Brandeis University to discuss a regional response to addiction. He also pledged support from the state on expanding and streamlining access to services, addressing insurance practices, expanding correctional system treatment, strengthening safe prescribing and dispensing of prescription medications and expanding peer-support networks.

“The governor’s plan also identifies an opportunity to improve insurance practices related to opioid abuse,” Hackett said. “As we learn more from Taunton families who have suffered from addiction, what they have endured to get help is unfathomable.”

Patrick’s plan was announced the day after the city’s second addiction forum. Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr., the host and an organizer of Monday’s opiate forum, served on Patrick’s Opioid Task Force. The action plan announced Tuesday was a direct result of work done by the statewide task force.

Patrick’s office said it may take some time before it’s clear how the proposed steps will affect Greater Taunton specifically.

“These actions will help enhance our network of treatment and recovery services to help communities and families struggling with addiction,” Patrick said. “I hope this work results in more families talking openly about issues of addiction in order to spark the process of healing and recovery.”

Patrick’s office said the measures “will strengthen the state’s ability to respond to the opioid crisis with a focus on prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery.” A spokesman for Patrick’s administration also said the actions proposed “will have impact on the Greater Taunton area and the commonwealth as a whole. As the recommendations are implemented over the next fiscal year, the impacts on specific communities will become available. “

Hackett has witnessed families struggling with addiction during her time at the city school department’s helm.

“Once they get their loved one to admit there’s a problem and finally accept treatment, the battle’s not over,” Hackett said. “They must then fight the insurance companies who refuse to pay for anything more than a week-long stint in a treatment facility. I haven’t met an individual yet who’s been able to kick the habit in seven days, and if you ask an addict what’s on their mind throughout the seven-day treatment program, they will tell you it’s their next fix.”

Patrick has pledged to address these insurance practices. His office said Tuesday that “DPH and the Division of Insurance, in consultation with the Health Policy Commission, will conduct a comprehensive review of insurance coverage for opioid addiction treatment. The agencies will consult with clinical experts to develop minimum criteria for opioid abuse and addiction treatment services that will be considered medically necessary for all patients. The Task Force found that gaps in coverage were impacting services for individuals in need.”

“It is unconscionable to me that insurance companies cover the costs of multiple week-long stays in treatment facilities, but they won’t pay for one 60-day stay,” Hackett said. “We need to decide as a society if human lives are a fair exchange for an insurance company’s bottom line.”

Taunton has been particularly hard hit by 2014’s wave of overdoses. The city lost 10 residents to fatal overdoses so far this year, and emergency services have responded to at least 140 nonfatal ODs since Jan. 1, according to Jennifer Bastille, Safe Neighborhood Initiative Program Advisor for the city’s Department of Human Services.